MMA Power is no joke! 12 rounds and almost 50 minutes of punching, kicking, jumping and definitely sweating! I can see why the Week #2 Core De Force meal plan for Core De Force adds in a Fruit to give you a little extra natural energy to push through the increased duration and increased intensity of the moves.
I didn’t write reviews for days #6 through #10 because those were repeat workouts that I already covered. In case you missed any of those, here you go!
- Day #1 Review – MMA Speed Review
- Day #2 Review – Dynamic Strength Review
- Day #3 Review – MMA Speed (again!)
- Day #4 Review – Power Sculpt Review
- Day #5 Review – MMA Shred Review
Click Here to get the Core De Force Challenge Pack!
Core De Force – MMA Power – Details
- Trainers: Joel Freeman and Jericho McMathews
- MMA Power Duration: About 47 minutes, comprised of (12) – 3 minute rounds.
- MMA Power Goals: This workout is a 12 round Cardio focused workout.
- MMA Power Required Equipment: Nothing!
Core De Force MMA Power Moves
Similar to MMA Speed and MMA Shred, MMA Power consists of 3 minute rounds; however this time we go all the way to 12 rounds! Whoa!
This makes the workout about 9 minutes longer than MMA Speed, and about 20 minutes longer than MMA Shred , but again – every round is different so the extra time isn’t that bad. I actually thought I would really struggle making it through a 47 minute workout, but I did it, the time flew by, and I had so much fun during it!
Also similar to MMA speed & MMA shred, the format is a combo move for 1 minute, followed by a 30 second “spike” – a calorie-burning move to get your heart rate up. Then you repeat that again to complete each 3 minute round.
MMA Power Round #1
- Hook, Cross, Jump Hook – Start in your dominant stance. Throw a hook with your forward arm, then a cross with your rear arm, and then jump forward for another hook, and return to your start position.
- Switch Jumps – the “spike” move is 30 seconds of switch jumps. Get into a low squat with feed wide apart. You keep your head and shoulders facing forward and rotate left and right, jumping each time. The lower your stance, the harder this gets.
MMA Power Round #2
- Rear Snap Kick, Switch Snap Kick – Do a rear snap kick (make sure to not bang your joints!) and when your foot returns to the ground jump to switch positions and snap kick with the other leg.
- Spiderman Climbers – This spike move is hard!! I think it’s the hardest one of the entire routine actually. In this move, you go to a plank position and then jump and bring one foot forward to the outside of your hand while the other one is back,and switch. You can increase the challenge by either bringing your foot further forward, and also by making sure you focus on keeping your hips down.
MMA Power Round #3
- Front Uppercut, Cross, Switch Knee, Rear Push Kick – The uppercut move is more challenging if you really get under it and “lift” into your invisible opponent’s chin 🙂 After the uppercut, you get a full rotation with a cross, then another rotation with a switch knee, and then stepping forward into the push kick. The push kick you will really feel after these moves, especially if you use your hip to drive your leg forward!
- Lateral Jump, Vertical Jump – This SPIKE MOVE has you jumping left and right, after your jump you immediately do a vertical jump. Use your arms for momentum. I’m currently doing this in a small basement so I couldn’t jump super high during the vertical jump, BUT I made it harder by squatting lower and keeping me quads engaged on the lateral jumps.
MMA Power Round #4
- Slip Back, Slip Front, Roll Back, Roll Front – This round moves into defensive postures. You start by slipping back, this is a move where you are twisting away from your opponent (you can try pointing your shoulder forward), and then slip back to the front, followed by a roll (same as in MMA Speed) to the back and then to the front. I find these rolls more challenging if I keep my upper body faced forward and maintain my foot position in a dominant stance.
- Ground to Fighter Stance – In this move you start in a fighter stance, drop to your hands and chest and then pop back up again, on the pop up pulling your legs back underneath you into the fighter stance. Switch dominant foot forward each time!
MMA Power Round #5
- Cross, Side Kick – You’d think this move would be easier because it’s only two moves, but that means you do them more during the 60 second round. Just a cross punch from the rear, then bring the foot in and a side kick. Increase difficulty by leaning away more during the side kick.
- Reverse Lunge, Clinch Knee – This Spike move is a reverse lunge, followed by bringing the rear lunging leg up and rotating into it. You do one leg for the first spike, and the other leg for the second spike. You can go slow and methodical on this but I noticed that during the lunge to knee portion of the move, you can definitely make it a more intentional and stronger movement to increase the difficulty. By this point my legs were really, really sore 🙂
MMA Power Round #6 (Halfway through!!!!)
- Front Uppercut, Cross, Front Uppercut, Side Kick – Like the last move, but instead of a cross it’s the uppercut-cross-uppercut combo. The uppercuts really drive rotation if you focus on punching in front of you. Joel at one point says “to the chin, to the cheek, to the chin” and that visualization effort really makes it more intense!
- Roll Jumps – Just like the Roll Jumps from MMA Shred. Roll back, JUMP UP, roll forward, JUMP up! the higher you jump and the deeper you roll, the harder it is!
MMA Power Round #7
- Jab, Cross, Slip Back, Cross, Roll Back – This was an interesting move! And, it took me a little bit to master it. You start with a jab – cross (easy enough!). Then, you slip back away from your opponent. From that back position, you do another cross. The cool thing about that next cross is because you have slipped back you have all that rotational and forward momentum to really put some power behind that second Cross. Right after that, you roll back away (and repeat!)
- Switch Jumps – The same as Round #1’s move! The next five rounds are going to repeat rounds #1 through #6 spike moves.
MMA Power Round #8
- Switch Snap Kick, Cross, Front Side Kick – You start with the switch snap kick. The switch kicks are always fun because they have a little transition hop right before the kick. After the kick you reset your foot, cross over, and then bring your foot in and nail the side kick. BOOM.
- Spiderman Climbers – Same as round #2. Literally struggle city over here. I found if you are really hurting, you can go up on something a bit (edge of a couch or pushup bars) to make it a LITTLE easier.
MMA Power Round #9
- Slip Forward, Roll Back, Cross, Hook – I think this one was added in because of the spiderman climbers actually destroying my legs in the last round. This one is a little easier than some other moves so you can catch your breath. However, it is a little tricky – you start with a forward slip (pointing your back shoulder towards the front), then roll back out of it, power the cross forward and hook with the other hand. Make sure to keep pivoting those feet during the moves.
- Lateral Jump, Vertical Jump –Yap, back to the Round #3 spike 🙂
MMA Power Round #10
- Switch Roundhouse Kick – OK, at this point I’m getting excited that there are just 3 rounds left. Yay! In this one, you start in fighting stance, do the hop switch and roundhouse kick. The roundhouse kick is more of an “in the ribs” kind of kick (vs the snap kick or side kick). But my stance is pretty sideways on this one.
- Ground to Fighter Stance – The same spike as Round #4!
MMA Power Round #11
- Hook, Rear uppercut, Switch Roundhouse Kick – I love this combo! I think it has the best “flow”. The hook and then a big rotation into a solid vertical uppercut, followed by a hop stance switch roundhouse kick. I also found during this move I have way better form on my non-dominant side (which is right foot forward).
- Reverse Lunge Clinch Knee – The same as Round #5! On to the LAST ROUND!! Whoop!
MMA Power Round #12 (FINAL ROUND!)
- Body Jab, Cross, Switch Push Kick – A new move to finish MMA Power! Just because your legs weren’t burned out enough, now you have body jabs! The same as a regular jab, except you are squatting and jabbing at their gut instead of the face. Then you rise up to a rear punch cross, stance switch, and lean back as you move your hips forward to a push kick, and reset & repeat!
- Roll Jumps – Final spike, back to the Roll Jumps from Round #6!
And BOOM, that’s the end! I was SOAKED!
Core De Force – MMA Power Review & Thoughts:
This is the third “Cardio” MMA workout I have done in the Core De Force MMA workout program (the first was MMA Speed and the second was MMA Shred). MMA speed was short (about 27 minutes) and included knee moves, but no kicks. MMA Shred added in kicks and 3 more rounds, bringing it to around 37 minutes. This workout adds even more complex moves with more rotation and is a full 12 rounds, which leaves you drenched by the end of it. Definitely challenging but fun!
I really liked MMA Power. I thought I would have a hard time with this as the workout is fairly long, but I made it through it just fine, the varied pace and the rounds go quick, so before you know it you are round 6, then 9, and then the last round and you are done. I definitely was getting weaker toward the end of the workout, and the extra fruit portion in the Week #2 meal plan is making all the difference with my energy levels. This one is definitely my favorite workout so far. Some of the moves in particular really flow well and I’m starting to really feel like my form is improving, which makes you feel way more bad-ass!
Core De Force Meals:
What I ate today! (you can view my entire Week #2 Meal Plan and Grocery List here!)
- Breakfast -Chocolate Shakeology w/ almond milk, 1/2 a banana, 1 Tsp peanut butter
- Snack – Strawberries & Cantaloupe
- Lunch – Salad w/ Veggie Burger, 2 hard-boiled eggs and Mango Dressing
- Snack – Banana w/ 1 Tsp Almond Butter
- Dinner – FIXATE Turkey Chili
- Evening Snack –Carrots, Celery & Hummus
Have any questions for me about this program? Post ’em in the comments or shoot me an email at kathi.reuter@gmail.com!
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